Linking to Video Information

ABSTRACT

A system enables dynamic linking between a variety of video formats including television broadcasts, web pages, and video displays which are stored on magnetic or optical media. Each frame of the video information is identified together with a plurality of locations within that frame. The locations selected by the user for example using a pointing device is then used to access associated information either within the system itself or on an external system. Thus, in some embodiments of the present invention, any item on a given frame may be linked initially or thereafter to other information within or without the particular system containing that information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/998,751, filed on Nov. 30, 2007, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/409,128, filed Sep. 30, 1999, whichissued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,325,245.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to linking information displayed on avideo display to additional information.

Hyperlinks (also called anchors or hotspots) are video display locationswhich a user can select to access a document or a web site (i.e. acollection of documents). Generally, a given document such as ahypertext markup language (HTML) document may have a hyperlinkprogrammed onto the web page by indicating a given location displayed onthe web page. When the user operates a pointing device on the designatedembedded linking area, additional information may be accessed.Conventionally the embedded linked area is accessed by highlighting thelinked area and operating a mouse button while a cursor or highlightingis arranged to point to the hyperlinked site.

The additional information may be additional video information, textualinformation, a web page or any of a variety of other information. Auniform resource locator (URL) is used to access the additionalinformation. Absolute URLs locate external sites and relative URLs pointto locations on the same web site or document.

Of course, the hyperlink works because the web page is programmed toinclude the embedded pointer. Thus, the hyperlinks become part of thecode which defines the web page. The hyperlinks can be URLs or imageswhich have associated URLs.

Because the hyperlinks are hard coded into the web page, once thehyperlinks are defined, it is relatively difficult to change them. Thus,if a given hyperlink points to a given source such as a web page, itgenerally will always point to that source unless the HTML code isrewritten.

In a number of circumstances, it would be desirable to enable thelinking software to be redefined over time. Thus, at one time interval;when a user selects (or mouse clicks on) a given icon on a web page, onething would happen and at another time a different thing would happen.This would allow greater flexibility and enables the web page creator tolink to different sites at different times. For example the web pageowner may sell the hyperlinks to different users at different times.

In conventional magnetic or optical media such as hard disks, magnetictape, compact disks, digital video disks (DVD), and floppy disks,hyperlinking is generally not utilized. However, it would be desirableto enable reprogrammable hyperlinks from a variety of media includingmedia storing video presentations such as movies.

Thus, there is a continuing need for better ways to link videoinformation to other information in a way which may be readilyreprogrammed and which is sufficiently flexible to enable additionalinformation to be linked to information in a video presentation atvarious times.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect, a method of linking information to videoinformation includes linking the video information with otherinformation based on the location of the video information on a frameand a frame identifier. The other information may be accessed inresponse to a user selection of a frame location.

Other aspects are set forth in the accompanying detailed description andclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic depiction of one implementation of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic depiction of another embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a depiction of how a frame may be broken up into distinctlocations with embedded links which may be reprogrammed in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing software for implementing one embodimentof the present invention in connection with a client;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing software for implementing one embodimentof the present invention in accordance with a server; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a client in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A computer system 10 may include a processor-based unit 12 coupled to adisplay 14 such as a conventional television receiver having a displayscreen 22. A remote control unit (RCU) 16 may be utilized to remotelycontrol the unit 12 and the display 14. Thus, in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention, mouse style commands may beproduced by operating the directional buttons 26 to move a cursor imageor highlighting on the display screen 22 to implement a conventionalpointing function.

The RCU 16 may be an airwave transceiver 24 which communicates withtransceivers 18 on the units 12 and 20. In this way, airwavecommunications may be undertaken between the components. The user canthen control each component by providing input commands through thecursor controls 26, the pushbuttons 28 or the keypad 30.

While the present invention has been illustrated in connection with aprocessor-based unit 12 which may be called a set top computer system,the present invention is applicable to any of a variety ofprocessor-based systems including desktop computers, laptop computers,and processor-based appliances, as additional examples.

The RCU 16 may conveniently generate and receive airwave signals such asinfrared, radiowave or ultrasonic signals. While the present inventionis illustrated in connection with a processor-based system 10 which usesan RCU 14 as a pointing device, the present invention is equallyapplicable to processor-based systems which are controlled using otherpointing devices including a mouse, a rollerball, or a touchpad, asadditional examples.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the system10 may be one of a plurality of similar receivers 10, shown in FIG. 2,which receive video transmissions (indicated by the arrow 35 a) from aserver 34. Each receiver 10 may communicate through a back channel 35 b,in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, with theserver 34. Thus, as illustrated, two-way communications may beimplemented between the server 34 and each of the plurality of receivers10.

The server 34 may receive video content such as television programmingfrom a content provider 32. The server 34 may also send communicationsto the content provider 32. In addition, the server 34 may communicatein a two-way communication protocol with a link library 75 in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention.

In one example of an implementation of the present invention, televisionprogramming may be transmitted from the server 34 to each of a pluralityof receivers 10. At each receiver 10, a pointing device may be utilizedto select a particular location in a particular video frame in order toaccess additional information. The selection may be transmitted over theback channel 35 b from a receiver 10 to a server 34. In response, theserver 34 may access the link library 75 to provide additionalinformation corresponding to the particular location and the particularframe selected by the user of a receiver 10. That information may thenbe transmitted, for example as indicated by the arrow 35 a, from theserver to the receiver 10. Alternatively, the additional information maybe obtained from the content provider 32.

A variety of transport media may be utilized to convey the additionalinformation. For example, telephone, cable, satellite, and networkedconnections, including Internet connections, may be utilized toimplement the transport media.

While the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 involves a video transmissionsystem such as a television broadcasting system, the present inventionis in no way limited to broadcast applications. It may likewise beapplicable to any of a variety of transmissions involving visualinformation including video transmissions, movie distribution systems,or Internet web pages, as additional examples.

In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, amedium 70 may be provided which contains video information. The medium70 may be, as examples, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a compact disk, adigital video disk, or any of a variety of optical or magnetic media.The medium 70 may store one or more video images which may be displayedon a conventional processor-based system. The processor-based system mayalso include a system memory 72 which may store a variety of programswhich may be executed on the processor-based system.

When the user selects a given location and frame of an image currentlybeing displayed on the system, the system memory 72 may record theselected location and its frame. The memory 72 may access associatedinformation, which is stored on the medium 70, to display additionalinformation, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.The nature of additional information is essentially boundless and isdefined only as information which is linked by design to a givenlocation in a given frame in the content originally stored on the medium70.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, video data may define avideo frame or a plurality of video frames. Each video frame may beidentified (if more than one video frame is involved) by a frameidentifier. The frame identifier identifies each frame of a plurality ofvideo frames which, for example, may make up a video presentation suchas a movie, a television program, or a web site as examples. Inaddition, a plurality of locations on a given frame may be identifiedrelative to other frames. Thus, when the user selects a given locationand a given frame, that location and the identified frame itself providean indication of the focus of a given user. The given location on agiven frame may be linked through the active media (or through othermedia) with additional information which may be associated with theselected location.

One convenient frame identifier is the time code in accordance with oneof a variety of industry standards including the Society of MotionPicture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Conventionally, the time codesare utilized to enable synchronization between audio and video tracks.The SMPTE time code synchronization system is a biphase marklongitudinal time code (LTC) which can be recorded onto the audio trackof a video tape in one example.

Another time code is the vertical interval time code (VITC). The VITCmay be advantageous in some applications because it can be read evenwhen the medium storing the video is paused.

The SMPTE time code is a broadcast standard time which may be recordedin the format HH:MM:SS;FF, where FF is a frame number between 00 and 29,HH is a two-digit code for hours, MM is a two-digit code for minutes andSS is a two-digit code for seconds. Assuming a frame rate of 30 framesper second, the SMPTE time code may identify every frame of a videosequence such as a movie, a television program or other videoinformation.

While the present invention, in one embodiment, uses a time code toidentify a given frame, the present invention is in no way limited tothe use of time codes. The time code is simply a convenient way toidentify one of a plurality of frames. Any other technique may also beutilized to identify each of the frames including simply providing eachframe with a sequential identifier.

A frame 36, illustrated in FIG. 4, may be overlaid by a grid systemhaving an X screen direction 40, a Y screen direction 42 and a frameidentifier 38. The frame identifier provides the hours, minutes andseconds indication followed by a 00 to 29 frame number indication. Inthe embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the X and Y screen directionsprovide rectangular coordinates to identify a plurality of grid segmentssuch as the segments 44 and 46. In this way, every image defined on theframe 36 may be identified by one or more grid coordinates in the Xscreen and Y screen directions.

Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 4, a given frame 36 may have two embeddedlinks, for example a link 1 and a link 2 associated with the locations44 and 46. If these locations are selected by the user, theyautomatically link to additional information which may be stored, forexample, on the medium 70 in the embodiment of FIG. 3 or to the linklibrary 75 or content provider 32 via the server 34 in the embodiment ofFIG. 2.

While FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in which a rectangular grid workis utilized to define locations, any of a variety of locationidentifying techniques may be utilized. For example, polar coordinatesmay be utilized, a patchwork of regions may be identified by locationnumbers, and any of a variety of other indication identifying techniquesmay be used as well. As another example, one or more display pixels maybe associated as a link to additional information.

The user may select a location 44 or 46 using a conventional pointingdevice such as the RCU 16. When a particular item on the display has acursor image associated with it, in one embodiment of the presentinvention, and a mouse button is operated (such as the button associatedwith the controls 26), that particular location is selected. In responseto the selection of a particular location, additional information may beidentified. That is, given the particular location in a particularframe, the processor-based system may search for information linked tothat particular location in that particular frame.

Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the content providermay know that a given location in a given frame is a particular product.When the user selects that location, the user may be provided withadditional information, such as video information, about the particularproduct.

Because of the location system described herein, the linked informationmay be added or changed at any time. For example, as users continue toselect a given location on a given frame, the content provider or otherentity may choose to provide additional information in response torepeated requests.

Similarly, the information which is provided may be changed at any time.Because the linked information is not hard coded into the media, theinformation may be changed in response to the desire to updateinformation, to change sponsorships, or to improve the quality of theinformation, as examples.

Thus, by providing a system of location identifiers, the need for hardcoding of hyperlinks may be avoided. This allows a dynamic system inwhich the linked information may be varied over time to meet changingneeds. In addition, it enables essentially every item in a given videodisplay to be selectively linked to additional information. Moreover,there is no need to adjust the programming of a particular page such asInternet web page, but instead, the desired item can be identified bylocation.

In the embodiment indicated in FIG. 2, the user selected locationstogether with the frame identifier may be transmitted back to the server34 over the back channel 35 b to the server. The server 34 may then beresponsible for obtaining the linked information for example from thelink library 75 or the content provider 32. In this case, the receivergoes outside its own system to obtain the additional information throughthe link.

In contrast, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the linkedinformation may be contained elsewhere on the same media 70 thatoriginally stored the video data. In this case, the additionalinformation may be found entirely within a single processor-basedsystem.

The software 48, resident on the receiver 10, may begin by receiving thevideo data as indicated in block 50 as shown in FIG. 5. The link may beestablished between that data and the time code system that is utilizedby the particular receiver. For example, if the user uses the SMPTE timecode system to identify selected locations on selected frames,synchronism of that system is established (block 52).

Next the system awaits a user selection as indicated in diamond 54. Theuser selection may correspond to the use of a pointing device, such asthe RCU 16, to select a particular location on a particular frame. Oncethe user makes the selection, the location identifiers are stored asindicated in block 56. The location identifiers may identify aparticular location in the frame as well as a particular frame. One suchidentifier is the SMPTE time code.

In some receivers 10, a recording system may be provided wherein data iscontinuously stored onto a magnetic or optical storage media such as ahard disk drive. When the user wishes to access additional informationfor viewing, the ongoing video stream may be stored. In systems whichuse a recording media of the type described, this may be accomplished bypausing the active display, continuing to record the received video,such as a television program, in the background, while displayingadditional information selected for access by the user through thelinking system described above.

Thus, in these systems, sometimes called broadcast pause and resumesystems, with this type of recording media, the pause function may beautomatically activated in response to a user selection of a givenlocation on a particular frame. The pause remains in effect until suchtime as the user has finished viewing the additional information andindicates a desire to return to the ongoing video program. Thus, if thepause is active, as determined in diamond 58, the pause may beautomatically instituted for the duration of the excursion into theadditional information as indicated in block 60.

Thereafter, the location identifiers are transmitted through a source ofvideo information associated with the link (block 62). Thus, in theembodiment shown in FIG. 2, the location identifiers may be sent outsideof the processor-based system 10. In contrast, in the system shown inFIG. 3, the information may be accessed internally of theprocessor-based system.

The location identifier for the content may be accessed such as a URL orother identifier as indicated in block 64. When the user selects thecontent as indicated in diamond 66, content may be automaticallydisplayed as indicated in block 68. Again, when the user indicates anintent to resume the original video material returning from the linkedinformation, in systems which use a on-going recording of a receivedvideo stream, the system may automatically transition back to displaythe recorded media (block 70). The system may accelerate through thereplay of the recorded media to attempt to return to real time displayof the just received video information, as indicated in block 70.

Turning next to FIG. 6, software 74 which may be resident on the server34, may begin by transmitting video data to one or more receivers asindicated in block 76. Synchronization is established with the receiversas indicated in block 78. When a request for a location identifier isreceived, as indicated in diamond 80, the requested links mayautomatically be located as indicated in block 82. Thus, in theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the coordinates of the particularselected location and its frame may be compared to a database containinglinks for a variety of locations on a variety of frames. When a link isaccessed, it can be returned to the receiver. The return link may be aURL or other script that directs the receiver to the source of theinformation, or the information itself may be provided directly from theserver to the receiver as indicated in block 84.

In one embodiment of the invention, the user may cause indicia, such ashighlighting, to appear at those locations that are linked to otherinformation. This feature may be activated, for example, during asoftware set-up sequence.

Finally, referring to FIG. 7, the receiver 10 may include a processor150 coupled to an accelerated graphics port chipset 152 (see theAccelerated Graphics Port Interface Specification, Revision 1.0, datedJul. 31, 1996 available from Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif.).The chipset 152 may be coupled to system memory 158 and an AGP port 154.The port 154 communicates with a graphics accelerator 156 and atelevision receiver 14 in one embodiment of the present invention.

A bus 160, coupled to the chipset 152, also couples a TV tuner/capturecard 162 coupled to an appropriate antenna or other transport mediumaccess port 164. A bus 160 also couples a bridge or interface 166 whichmay communicate with a hard disk drive 168. The software 48 describedpreviously may be stored on the hard disk drive 168. In a broadcastpause and resume system the hard disk drive 168 may be buffered so thatit may essentially simultaneously record and playback information in aninterleaved or multiplexed series of store and playback sequences.

A second bus 170 may be coupled between the bridge 166 and a serialinput/output device (SIO) 172 and a basic input/output system (BIOS)174. The SIO 172 may communicate with an infrared transceiver 18 whichis part of the processor-based unit 12. The transceiver 18 communicateswith a transceiver 24 on the RCU 16. The RCU 16 also includes acontroller 150 a coupled to a memory 158 a and the keypad elements 26,28 and 30.

While the present invention has been described with respect to a limitednumber of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerousmodifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appendedclaims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within thetrue spirit and scope of this present invention.

1. A method comprising: enabling a frame of video that was previously recorded to be played back; in response to the selection of additional information by accessing a particular location on the frame of video being played back, automatically pausing the video playback when the additional information is accessed by selecting the particular location on the frame; displaying the additional information while the video playback is paused; and automatically resuming the playback of the video from where the playback of video was paused, when the additional information is no longer being accessed.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a user to select the more information by clicking on an icon on the frame of video being played back.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the frame of video being played back is a commercial.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the more information and the frame of video being played back are stored on the client module.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the more information is located on a web page.
 6. An apparatus comprising: a storage; and a processor coupled to said storage to enable a frame of video that was previously recorded to be played back, in response to the selection of additional information by accessing a particular location on the frame of video being played back, automatically pause the video playback when the additional information is accessed by selecting the particular location on the frame, display the additional information while the video playback is paused, and automatically resume the playback of the video from where the playback of video was paused, when the additional information is no longer being accessed.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the frame of video being played back is a commercial.
 8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the frame of video being played back is digitally recorded television.
 9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the screen is a television screen.
 10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the information is stored on a web site.
 11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the information is related to a contest. 